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Delta Air Lines is not trying to hide its expansion plans at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) and continues to add new routes to/from the Texas airport. The airline still lags Southwest Airlines at the airport and will need to grow a lot more to chip away at the 39% of flights and 41% of seats offered (versus its 22% and 19%).
The Atlanta-based airline recently added three more non-hub routes and just announced that it will begin flying daily to/from Miami International Airport (MIA) starting on November 22nd using Boeing 737-800 aircraft. These offer 16 Delta First, 36 Delta Comfort, and 108 Delta Main seats. Gary at View from the Wing reports that Delta wants to eventually have “150 daily flights, 15 gates, two lounges” and 10x the current staff. If this came to be, Delta would be positioned to take the lead from Southwest. With the latest route announcement, Delta will offer nonstop flights to/from:
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
- Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)
- Cancún International Airport (CUN)
- Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG)
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW)
- John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH)
- Denver International Airport (DEN)
- Indianapolis International Airport (IND)
- Jacksonville International Airport (JAX)
- Kansas City International Airport (MCI)
- Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS)
- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
- McAllen International Airport (MFE)
- Memphis International Airport (MEM)
- Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP)
- Nashville International Airport (BNA)
- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)
- New York John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
- Orlando International Airport (MCO)
- Palm Springs International Airport (PSP)
- Panama City’s Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP)
- Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU)
- Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC)
- San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
- Los Cabos International Airport (SJD)
- Seattle International Airport (SEA)
- Tampa International Airport (TPA)
Southwest isn’t backing down. While it has challenges of its own, its CEO, Bob Jordan, said that Southwest wants to grow “from 130 to well over 200 [flights a day and] make Austin the largest airport and largest service we have in the whole state of Texas.” That’s a lot to add and with Delta looking to invest heavily it will be fascinating to see which airline comes out ahead (my money is on Delta).
Anthony’s Take: American tried to make Austin a focus city and failed. Delta seems to be making it work and wants an even larger slice of the airport.
(Featured Image Credit: Delta Air Lines.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
